​I used to live in Canberra, and I had a few days off work earlier this week so I decided to go spend a few days there. It was freezing but it was great to get to catch up with friends and spend some time with my relatives that live there. They are amazing, always happy for me to appear at the front door and help in any way if anything ever goes wrong. They always give me a place to stay, and usually feed me pretty well too, so I decided I wanted to cook a nice dinner to say thank you while I was there.How many of you read that and thought “hang on, that’s a dinner not baking”? But baking isn’t just desserts and treats! Anything made in the oven is baked.I don’t do the whole dinner cooking thing very often so I was a bit nervous, I even told my relatives that I was highly expecting it not to work and that we would end up doing a pizza run for dinner instead!Recently, I have been craving the combination of chicken, spinach and feta. It’s a great flavour combo isn’t it? I didn’t know how many people were going to be at dinner, it could be anywhere for 3-8 people on any given night. So I had to make something that I could make lots of, in case 8 people were there, but also something that can be frozen if only 3 people turned up.After having a bit of a think, and a google for inspiration, I decided on making chicken, spinach and feta filo wraps. These have the extra bonus of being individual servings, so they are even easier for freezing! They are also great for something to prepare in advance and have in the fridge.

Before I went shopping I found out there would be four of us for dinner so I made eleven filo pockets and we had two each with some cooked pumpkin, potato and broccolini which went really well with it!

What I used …

650gms chicken breast (you can use chicken mince too)

1 tspn garlic powder

2 tspn Italian herbs

1 x packet frozen spinach (250gms)

100gms of your favourite feta (if you are a massive cheese fan you can use more!)

2 x egg whites

Filo pastry (I used eleven sheets for this recipe, but its pretty easy to tear so make sure you have some spares)

1 cup melted butter (this can be replaced with oil for a healthier option)

Before starting, the filo needs to defrost which can take up to two hours. You can also get the spinach out to defrost at the same time.

And now it’s time to cook!

First we prepare the filling …

I like to beat the chicken with a tenderising hammer to make it nice and thin. You can also use a rolling pin, or a glass to do this or you can skip it all together if you’d like.

Dice up the chicken nice and small.

Pop it all into a bowl and add the garlic and Italian herbs, tossing it all together so the chicken is evenly covered (you can use any herbs and spices you like with your chicken but I found these two worked really, really well)

Throw it all in a pan with a low-medium heat to brown and start to cook through.

While the chicken is browning, strain the spinach and squeeze out all the water. You need to get as much water out as you can so I find it easier to use my hands.

When the chicken has just a few minutes to go, add in the spinach and mix everything together

Cook for another few minutes till the chicken is cooked and the spinach has wilted slightly

Add two egg whites to a bowl, followed by the chicken and spinach and the feta

Gently mix everything together to evenly distribute the chicken, spinach and feta

Filling done!

Time to get your melted butter ready and a pastry brush too. But if you don’t have a pastry brush, you can use a soft plastic spatula to do the job just as well.Now we are ready to put everything together …

Spread out your filo pastry and cut it in half so you have two long, thin piles of pastry.

Separate one piece, putting a clean tea towel over the remaining pieces to keep them moist

Paint the separated piece of filo with a generous amount of melted butter (or oil if you prefer). Make sure you cover the edges well so that when we fold the pastry, everything sticks together well.

Separate a second piece of pastry and gentry place it on top of the buttered piece

Paint the top piece, again making sure the edges are well covered.

You can add more layers of pastry, joining each one with some butter. But I prefer more filling and less pastry, so two layers is enough for me!

Take a small amount of the filling and put it on one end of the buttered pastry. The positioning will depend on the shape of pockets you are planning on making. No matter what shape you chose, leave at least 1cm of space around the edge. I chose to make triangles!

Now fold the pastry over the filling, and continue folding the pocket over itself to the end of the pastry. For each fold be sure to line up the edges and press them firmly to seal.

When you have your finished pocket, paint some more butter on the outside, this helps them to turn a nice golden brown colour in the oven later on.

Keep making pockets until you have used up all of your filling

If you are making them in advance, place the prepared pockets in a container or on a plate with a tea towel over the top and leave them in the fridge till you are ready to cook.

The cooking process is more of a heating and browning, since we have already cooked the chicken, but it is what makes the filo pastry yummy and crispy. So if you are adding any vegetables, make sure you work out when best to put everything in the oven. For example, potatoes will need 45-55 minutes in the oven so you will want to cook them for roughly 20 minutes before putting the filo pockets in.When you are ready to cook …

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius

Lay the prepared pockets out on a baking tray

Bake in the oven for 25-30 minutes, you want them to be gold and crispy around the edges

Carefully take the pockets out of the oven, plate and serve!

There was definitely no need for a pizza run after serving these, my relatives loved them! And so did I!! The house had a very strong smell of garlic while I was cooking so I was a little worried, but the finished product was just delicious and had the perfect amount of everything. This is definitely something that is going into my bank for future dinner party meals.I really hope you give these a try, they really were something special and a perfect meal for a cold night in Canberra, especially with the potatoes, pumpkin and broccolini.

Let me know what you think and I would love to see your photos either below or over on my Instagram @nerdylittlebaker​